Boneshaker High Five #2

Each month Boneshaker Press will bring you a list of 5 things we love. Some entries will be obvious, some obscure, but every product that appears on the Boneshaker High Five will be something that at least one of our members recommends. FULL DISCLOSURE: We have no ties to any of the companies or products listed here, and if that ever changes we’ll let you know, but we do have Amazon Associate links at the bottom of this page. Check out Amazon’s Associate program here.

Figma He/She Anatomy Figures – I personally own these two and I can say they are just as good as they look. They’re small though, so be warned. While most people see this as a negative, I personally like the size because they can stand up easily right next to me on my work table and they aren’t obstructive or distracting. If you’re interested in purchasing this product, I’d recommend you don’t buy from “Generic” on Amazon. That’s where I bought from and one came in defective. And as a side note, these are the older models. The Newer models, Male & Female (which I preordered), will be out in January 2017 and look fantastic!

Once Upon a Time, Atlas Games – Once Upon a Time is a card game designed to work those storytelling and ideating muscles. If you tend to get stuck on the blank page, gather some friends and play a few rounds. It’ll help you loosen up and chances are you’ll come up with some great ideas that you can bring to your work later on.

Gumroad – Do you like brushes? Do you like tutorials? Do you like purchasing small pieces of content from a variety of artists on one online platform? If so, hide your credit card because Gumroad is here and it knows exactly what you want! This store is convenient and the content varies quite a bit. Video lessons can last 45 minutes or span the course of 10 hours. Some tutorials have video excerpts or samples so you can get a sense of what you are buying, some do not. My advice would be to buy from an artist you already follow or whose content comes recommended by multiple people. I, personally, have not been dissatisfied by the items I have bought on Gumroad, but I don’t know what kind of quality control (if any) exists. It is possible people could upload cruddy content for sale; do your research!

The Insider’s Guide to creating Comics and Graphic Novels, by Andy Schmidt, IMPACT Books – One of my favorite books on comics, The Insider’s Guide is packed with in depth, medium specific, information. There are no pages spent on topics like anatomy or how to draw a “cool” hero. Instead, the book devotes itself to subjects like interpreting a script, leading the eye through the page, how to choose camera angles, and managing overlapping dialogue. Admittedly it’s been a while since I last read it, but I can still remember being so inspired by each section that I’d rush home (I read it during my commute on the train) to write scripts and thumbnail pages just to try it all out. If you’re interested in comics, I highly recommend picking this one up.

Brushes by Kyle T Webster – Specifically referring to the Brush Megapack, the Gouache Pack, and the Screentone Pack. Everyone and their grandma might already own these brushes, but in general, I would say their popularity is deserved. There is massive variety in the Megapack; almost every drawing or painting implement your heart desires can be found here at a very reasonable price. A lot of these brushes have beautiful textures with no “tiling” and some of them mimic a traditional media look reasonably well. However, I feel like there are almost too many brushes in the Megapack. The variety is wonderful, but there is no way I am using 180 different brushes. Luckily, they are well organized and nothing is stopping you from removing unpopular picks from your Photoshop tool presets (alt+left click to delete a brush without going into the preset manager). Some of his brushes require the tilt functionality, so if your tablet lacks that feature, you might want to reconsider.